I believe this is a slightly controversial topic, at least from what I have gathered so far. Some say its best to leave the server on to spare the life time of the spinning rust. Other seem to prefer to save power and boot the server off each night. So wanted to chip in and hear what folks here do and why do what you do.

Bonus question; Do you guys have a UPS? Is it a must have for a homelab, or does it just depend on the usecase?

  • Matt The HorwoodEnglish
    98•5 months ago

    I leave my servers running 24/7, thats the point of a server. Also my home automation would be a little pointless if its off.

    I did have a UPS, but it died and I have got round to replacing it.

    Its all horses for courses, if your homelab is a playground to test things out then turning it off when not is use is fine. But some have live services that you may want at a moments notice and there for having it up all the time is better.

    • StritEnglish
      15•5 months ago

      I’m in the same boat as you. My server runs 24/7, because I have some services that require close to 100% uptime to function correctly.

      My UPS works fine though, and I wouldn’t go without it these days. Just because the damage an improper shutdown can cause on data.